Centurion: the machine soldiers of the Cylon Empire
The Centurions were a mass produced race of mechanical beings created by the original, biological Cylons. After overthrowing their creators, they made up the bulk of the military forces of the reconstituted Cylon Empire, commanding Raiders and leading its ground forces under the Imperious Leader.
The Centurions were a mass produced race of mechanical beings, created by the original, biological Cylons. Following the overthrow of the Cylons by their own creations, the Centurions made up the bulk of the military forces of the reconstituted Cylon Empire, which was led by the Imperious Leader. (Battlestar Galactica (1978), "Saga of a Star World")
Origins#
More than a thousand yahren before the destruction of the Colonies, the then-biological Cylons encountered humans. Believing the bipedal human body to be the superior form in the known galaxy, they built their robots, the Centurions, to mirror it. In time those robots turned on their makers and took the name "Cylon" for themselves. (Battlestar Galactica (1978), "Saga of a Star World"; Battlestar Galactica (1978), "Experiment in Terra")
Service to the Empire#
Following the overthrow of the Cylons by their own creations, the Centurions made up the bulk of the military under the reconstituted empire led by the Imperious Leader. They commanded Raiders and led the empire's ground forces. There was also a variant known as the Command Centurion, which was gold in color rather than chrome and served as an officer among the standard chrome soldiers. (Battlestar Galactica (1978), "Saga of a Star World")
Design#
Centurions spoke with a mechanical voice, typically answering orders with "By your command," and carried bayonet-fitted laser rifles along with swords for close combat and executions. They were advanced enough to defeat Colonial attempts to copy them: when Dr. Wilker rebuilt and reprogrammed a captured Centurion, it could only move stiffly and wrecked the controls of the Raider it was told to fly. These chrome soldiers were the main enemy throughout the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica series. (Battlestar Galactica (1978), "Saga of a Star World"; Battlestar Galactica (1978), "Baltar's Escape")
Frequently asked questions
- What were the Centurions in the Original Series?
- The Centurions were a mass produced race of mechanical beings created by the original, biological Cylons. After the Cylons were overthrown by their own creations, the Centurions formed the bulk of the military forces of the reconstituted Cylon Empire.
- Why were the Centurions built to resemble humans?
- More than a thousand yahren earlier, the then-biological Cylons encountered humans and came to see the bipedal human form as the superior design in the known galaxy, so they built their robots to mirror it.
- What was a Command Centurion?
- The Command Centurion was a variant of the standard Centurion that was gold in color rather than chrome. It served as an officer among the rank and file Centurion soldiers of the Cylon military.
- How did the Centurions speak?
- Centurions spoke with a flat mechanical voice and usually answered orders with the phrase "By your command." Despite their name, they were the lowest-ranking Cylon soldiers, answerable to Command Centurions and the IL-series.
Sources
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica (1978), "Saga of a Star World", Original series (1978)
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica (1978), "Experiment in Terra", Original series (1979)
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica (1978), "Baltar's Escape", Original series (1979)
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Cylon
The Cylons were a race of sentient machines created as military robots by Graystone Industries on Caprica. Built from research into artificial consciousness, they rebelled against their human masters, fought a long war, and forty years later returned to annihilate humanity.
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